In 1994, the world's first digital satellite TV services were launched in Thailand and South Africa. They utilized the newly developed Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) system.

Over time, DVB-S became the most popular system for delivering digital TV broadcasts. Technology has advanced and spread tremendously since then, which lead to an increased need for advances to the DVB-S system. Thus, the DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X systems were born!

Let's take a look at these two DVB standards and the main differences between them.

We can't possibly be the only intelligent life-forms in this infinite universe, can we? I mean, there's still plenty of exploring to do in our own solar system let alone nearby stars, our entire galaxy, and surrounding galaxies. Will our current deep space communication efforts, like Voyager 1, ever stumble across alien life so us humans can say, "Hi! We're here!"? Or will it take so long that our messages would be more like, "Hi! We were here!"?

Let's explore some current communication efforts to make contact with aliens and how they work.

Since the beginning of NASA, radio communication has been the go-to method of communication for spacecrafts. Well, that's about to change. NASA has recently announced they will be making a major change to some of their upcoming communication systems by implementing new, cutting-edge, laser communication technology.

A Berlin-based team known as PTScientists (Part Time Scientists) will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in high-style in 2019. The group was a participant in the private race to the moon, the Google Lunar X Prize, which will wrap up this year without a winner. Their mission for 2019? To bring a 4G wireless mobile network to the moon!

Bliley Technologies is proud to be partnered with PARC, the Palo Alto Research Center, a leading hub of innovation in a wide range of cutting-edge 21st-century technologies. PARC has deep expertise in the high-tech fields of big data, optoelectronics, semiconductors, large area electronics, model-based reasoning for AI, and is a pioneer in the field of ubiquitous and context-aware computing.

RF engineers are aware that temperature variations are the most significant factor contributing to frequency drift in crystal oscillators. Other variables affecting frequency output, such as humidity and pressure, can be easily alleviated with a hermetically sealed packaging of the crystal in a vacuum, or in an inert gas such as nitrogen. Controlling temperature for precise frequency output in a crystal oscillator circuit, however, requires a higher level of electronic RF design ingenuity. Enter... The Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO).

Electronic warfare (EW) is a continuous competition between electronic countermeasures (ECM) and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM). Electronic warfare systems deploy millions of sensors worldwide on a wide range of platforms such as IR, Acoustic, Radio, and Optic systems, all in the coordinated effort to harness and control the RF (radio frequency) spectrum, the highly contested electronic battlespace.